Neighbors express concerns over Hamilton’s traffic problems

Too much traffic, not enough parking and neighbors in one Quad City community say it will just get worse.

Hamilton Elementary school’s student body will quadruple a year from now. However, right now neighbors say it’s hard to turn onto 32nd Avenue from 7th Street when parents line up to pick up their kids, but district leaders say they’ve got a plan.

“You have traffic on both sides of the street so you’re at a stand still until whoever is in the parking lot picks up their children,” says Roxanne McDonald, who lives near Hamilton.

The school board voted this year to close both Ericsson and Garfield Elementary school, 450 more students will then attend the expanded Hamilton. Four times the students, neighbors say four times the traffic.

“I think our area is going to be congested and we’re not going to be able to get into our homes,” says Roxanne.

They also said they’ve had a little communication from the school board on future plans, but there have been ten public meetings, including Wednesdays, July 24, 2013 meeting.

“I think we’ve been transparent, we’ve haven’t tried to mislead anybody or do anything that would undermine the public’s trust, ” said Superintendent, Dr. David Moyer.

At the meeting a drafted traffic plan was revealed. While some think the plan would help the traffic flow others are worried about parking.

“I’m concerned long term that when you have a school of 600, I don’t know where the parents are going to park for activities,” said neighbor David Coene.

Another concern is student safety. The drafted plan includes one main cross walk where buses would drop kids off at and a cross guard would be there to walk them across the street.

The final design will be revealed to the public August 5 and the school board will review the plan August 12.